This invention relates to the butchering of livestock, and more particularly to the transporting, stunning, and slaughtering of livestock.
Generally, livestock, for example poultry, is raised at one location and butchered at another. Most of the current and traditional means for transporting and stunning poultry involve much manual physical labor. Some have attempted to reduce the labor involved, and others have attempted to reduce the expense of transporting livestock, but they have failed to achieve both objectives. Current transportation and handling of livestock is inefficient and labor intensive. In addition, traditional methods of handling and transporting live animals have led to bruising of the meat of the animals. This is undesirable as the appearance and quality of the meat is very important to the consumer purchasing it. Thus, there is a need for an inexpensive automated system for transporting livestock from where the livestock is raised to where it is butchered. There is also a need for an apparatus that can be used in such an automated system that is inexpensive to manufacture and easy to use.